Professor Timothy Clark, BA, PhD

Contact Professor Timothy Clark (email at timothy.clark@durham.ac.uk)

Biography

In the last fifteen years Timothy has conducted a series of research projects into different aspects of the management consultancy industry, including; the factors underpinning the selection and purchase of consultancy; the management of the client-consultant relationship; the role of consultants and management gurus in the diffusion of management ideas. The latter work focused on understanding the intricacies of how management gurus communicate their ideas to live audiences. In recent years he has extended this work to examine leadership oratory and how followers construct their impressions of leaders. These projects have been funded by ESRC, EU, The Wellcome Trust, industry bodies and consulting firms. The findings from these programmes of research have resulted in a number of influential articles in leading international journals and books, the most recent of which are Management Speak (with David Greatbatch), Management Consultancy: Boundaries and Knowledge in Action (with Andrew Sturdy, Karen Handley and Robin Fincham) and Demystifying Business Celebrity (with Eric Guthey and Brad Jackson).

He is currently working on an interdisciplinary project as part of a broader five-year research initiative on Tipping Points funded by the Leverhulme Trust.

He was an editor of Journal of Management Studies (2000-2008) and is a European Editor of Journal of Management Inquiry and sits on the Editorial Boards of British Journal of Management, Human Relations, International Journal of Management Reviews, Journal of Management Studies and Management Communication Quarterly. He is Past President (2011) of the British Academy of Management and in the University is Dean of Postgraduate and Undergraduate Education. Tim was made a Founding Fellow of the Leadership Trust in 2010.

Research Interests

• Selection and purchase of consultancy
• Management of the client-consultant relationship
• Role of consultants and management gurus

Research Groups

• Business and Management
• Communications Science
• Leadership and Followership

Selected Publications

Books: authored

• Guthey, E., Clark, T. & Jackson, B. (2009). Demystifying Business Celebrity. London and New York: Routledge.
• Sturdy, A., Clark, T., Fincham, R. & Handley, K. (2009). Management Consultancy Boundaries and Knowledge in Action. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
• Greatbatch, D. & Clark, T. (2005). Management speak: Why we listen to what the gurus tell us. Routledge.

Books: edited

• Avakian, S. & Clark, T. (2012). Management Consulting. The International Library of Critical Writings on Business and Management. Cheltenham, England: Edward Elgar.
• Kipping, M. & Clark, T. (2012). The Oxford Handbook of Management Consultancy. Oxford University Press.

Books: sections

• Clark, T., Bhatanacharoen, P. & Greatbatch, D. (2012). Management gurus as celebrity consultants. In The Oxford Handbook of Management Consulting. Kipping, M. & Clark, T. Oxford Oxford University Press. 347-364.
• Kipping, M & Clark, T. (2012). Researching Management Consulting: An Introduction to the Handbook. In The Oxford Handbook of Management Consulting. Kipping, M. & Clark, T. Oxford Oxford University Press. 1-28.
• Avakian, S., Clark, T. & Roberts. J. (2010). Examining the relationship between trust and culture in the consultant-client relationship. In Organizational Trust: A Cultural Perspective. Saunders, M., Skinner, D., Gillespie, N., Dietz, G. & Lewicki, R. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 129-155.
• Greatbatch, D. & Clark, T. (2010). The interactive construction of stories: The Case of management guru lectures. In Organisations, Interaction and Practice: Studies in Real Time Work and Organising. Llewllyn, N. & Hindmarsh, J. Cambridge University Press. 96-118.
• Greatbatch, D. & Clark, T. (2010). The situated production of stories. In Organisation, Interaction and Practice: Studies of Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis. Llewellyn, N. & Hindmarsh, J. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 96-118.
• Schwartz, M. & Clark, T. (2009). Clients’ Different Moves in Managing the Client-Consultant Relationship. In Client-Consultant Cooperation: Coping with Complexity and Change. Buono, A. & Poulfeldt, F. Greenwich: Information Age Publishing. 3-28.
• Clark, T. & Greatbatch, D. (2001). Knowledge Legitimation and Audience Affiliation Through Story Telling. In Critical Consulting. Clark, T. & Fincham, R. Blackwell. 152-171.

Journal papers: academic

• Clark, T., Greatbatch, D. & Bhatanacharoen, P. (2013). Consulting, Gurus and Big Ideas. Mercury Spring/Summer(4): 22-27.
• Clark, T., Wright, M. & Floyd, S. (2013). In search of the Impactful and the Interesting - the swings of the pendulum? Journal of Management Studies (50th Anniversary).
• Clark, T., Wright, M. & Iskoujina, Z. (2013). The shifting nature of management research: A longitudinal analysis of the content of Journal of Management Studies 1964-2010. Journal of Management Studies
• Clark, T. & Greatbatch, D. (2011). Audience perceptions of charismatic and non-charismatic oratory: The case of management gurus. The Leadership Quarterly 22(1): 22-32.
• Cooren, F., Kuhn, T., Cornelissen, J.P. & Clark, T. (2011). Communication, organizing and organization: An overview and introduction to the Special Issue. Organization Studies 32(9): 1149-1170.
• Sturdy, A., Clark, T., Fincham, R. & Handley, K. (2009). Between innovation and legitimation boundaries and knowledge flow in management consultancy. Organization 16(5): 627-653.
• Fincham, R. & Clark, T. (2009). Introduction to Point-Counterpoint on Rigour and Relevance in Management Studies: Can We Bridge the Rigour–Relevance Gap?. Journal of Management Studies 46(3): 510-515.
• Clark, T. & Wright, M. (2009). So, Farewell Then….Reflections on Editing the Journal of Management Studies. Journal of Management Studies 46(1): 1-9.
• Fincham, R., Clark, T., Handley, K. & Sturdy, A. (2008). Configuring expert knowledge: The consultant as sector specialist. Journal of Organizational Behavior 29(8): 1145-1160.
• Handley, K., Clark, T., Fincham, R. & Sturdy, A. (2007). Researching situated learning: Participation, identity and practices in client-consultant relationships. Management Learning 38(2): 173-191.
• Clark, T. & Wright, M. (2007). Reviewing journal rankings and revisiting peer reviews: editorial perspectives. Journal of Management Studies 44(4): 612–621.
• Clark, T., Floyd, S. & Wright, M. (2006). On the review process and journal development. Journal of Management Studies 43(3): 655-664.
• Handley, K., Sturdy, A., Fincham, R. & Clark, T. (2006). Within and beyond communities of practice: making sense of learning through participation, identity and practice. Journal of Management Studies 43(3): 641–653.
• Clark, T. & Mangham, I. (2005). Stripping to the undercoat: A review and reflections on a piece of organization theatre. Organization Studies 25(5): 841-851.
• Clark, T. (2004). Controversies and consistencies in management studies. Journal of Management Studies 41(3): 367-376.
• Clark, T & Mangham, I (2004). From dramaturgy to theatre as technology: The case of corporate theatre. Journal of Management Studies 41(1): 37-59.
• Handley, K., Sturdy, A.J., Clark, T. & Fincham, R. (2004). Have ideas, will travel? Spectra: Journal of the Management Consultancies Association 42-44.
• Clark, T. (2004). Strategy viewed from a management fashion perspective. European Management Review 1(1): 105-111.
• Clark, T. (2004). The fashion of management fashion: A surge too far?. Organization 11(2): 297-306.
• Greatbatch, D. & Clark, T. (2003). Displaying group cohesiveness: humour and laughter in the public lectures of management gurus. Human Relations 56(12): 1515-1544.
• Clark, T. & Greatbatch, D. (2003). Management fashion as image-spectacle: The production of management best-sellers. Management Communication Quarterly Vol 17(4): 396-424.
• Clark, T. (2001). Management research on fashion: A review and evaluation. Human Relations 54(12): 1650-1662.

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Supervises

• Miss Badri Zolfaghari
• Miss Naveena Prakasam
• Mr Renan Petersen-Wagner

Media Contacts

Available for media contact about:

• Business matters: management consultancy
• Business matters: theatre in business
• Business matters: trends in management thinking
• Europe: Business, economy & development: cross-cultural management
• Art: public speaking